Sry-related High Mobility Group Box 17 Functions as a Tumor Suppressor by Antagonizing the Wingless-related Integration Site Pathway

Methylation signatures as biomarkers for non-invasive early detection of breast cancer: A systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Early detection of breast cancer would help alleviate the burden of treatment for early-stage breast cancer and help patient prognosis. There is currently no established gene panel that utilizes the potential of DNA methylation as a molecular signature for the early detection of breast cancer. This systematic review aims to identify the optimal methylation biomarkers for a non-invasive liquid biopsy assay and the gaps in knowledge regarding biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer.

METHODS

Following the PRISMA-ScR method, Pubmed and Google Scholar was searched for publications related to methylation biomarkers in breast cancer over a five-year period. Eligible publications were mined for key data fields such as study aims, cohort demographics, types of breast cancer studied, technologies used, and outcomes. Data was analyzed to address the objectives of the review.

RESULTS

Literature search identified 112 studies of which based on eligibility criteria, 13 studies were included. 28 potential methylation gene targets were identified, of which 23 were methylated at the promoter region, 1 was methylated in the body of the gene and 4 were methylated at yet to be identified locations.

CONCLUSIONS

Our evaluation shows that at minimum APC, RASSFI, and FOXA1 genes would be a promising set of genes to start with for the early detection of breast cancer, based on the sensitivity and specificity outlined in the studies. Prospective studies are needed to optimize biomarkers for broader impact in early detection of breast cancer.

Lung Cancer Gene Regulatory Network of Transcription Factors Related to the Hallmarks of Cancer

The transcriptomic analysis of microarray and RNA-Seq datasets followed our own bioinformatic pipeline to identify a transcriptional regulatory network of lung cancer. Twenty-six transcription factors are dysregulated and co-expressed in most of the lung cancer and pulmonary arterial hypertension datasets, which makes them the most frequently dysregulated transcription factors. Co-expression, gene regulatory, coregulatory, and transcriptional regulatory networks, along with fibration symmetries, were constructed to identify common connection patterns, alignments, main regulators, and target genes in order to analyze transcription factor complex formation, as well as its synchronized co-expression patterns in every type of lung cancer. The regulatory function of the most frequently dysregulated transcription factors over lung cancer deregulated genes was validated with ChEA3 enrichment analysis. A Kaplan-Meier plotter analysis linked the dysregulation of the top transcription factors with lung cancer patients' survival. Our results indicate that lung cancer has unique and common deregulated genes and transcription factors with pulmonary arterial hypertension, co-expressed and regulated in a coordinated and cooperative manner by the transcriptional regulatory network that might be associated with critical biological processes and signaling pathways related to the acquisition of the hallmarks of cancer, making them potentially relevant tumor biomarkers for lung cancer early diagnosis and targets for the development of personalized therapies against lung cancer.

Drug Repurposing Applications to Overcome Male Predominance via Targeting G2/M Checkpoint in Human Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is strongly characterized by a male predominance with higher mortality rates and worse responses to treatment in males versus females. Despite the role of sex hormones, other causes that may contribute to sex bias in ESCC remain largely unknown, especially as age increases and the hormone difference begins to diminish between sexes. In this study, we analyzed genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics from 663 ESCC patients and found that G2/M checkpoint pathway-related sex bias and age bias were significantly present in multi-omics data. In accordance with gene expression patterns across sexes, ten compounds were identified by applying drug repurposing from three drug sensitivity databases: The Connective Map (CMap), Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), and The Cancer Therapeutic Response Portal (CTRP). MK1775 and decitabine showed better efficacy in two male ESCC cell lines in vitro and in vivo. The drugs' relevance to the transition between G2 and M was especially evident in male cell lines. In our study, we first validated the sex bias of the G2/M checkpoint pathway in ESCC and then determined that G2/M targets may be included in combination therapy for male patients to improve the efficacy of ESCC treatment.